QUICK FACTS

139 arrests/detainments of journalists in 2020 427 journalists assaulted in 2020 52 arrests/detainments of journalists in 2021 81 journalists assaulted in 2021 37 journalists/news organizations subpoenaed in 2020 9 journalists/news organizations subpoenaed in 2021

Featured Articles

Trump Justice Department secretly obtained phone records of 4 New York Times reporters

January 1, 2020
The U.S. Department of Justice informed The New York Times on June 2, 2021, that the agency secretly obtained phone records of four of the newspaper’s reporters during the Trump administration, the Times reported.The Justice Department, now under President Joe Biden, sent a letter to the Times saying that in 2020 it had obtained phone logs spanning nearly four months of 2017 for multiple Times reporters — Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eric Lichtblau and Michael S. Schmidt — as part …
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a database of press freedom incidents in the United States — everything from arrests of journalists and the seizure of their equipment to interrogations at the U.S. border and physical attacks. The Press Freedom Tracker documents incidents across the country, involving national, state and local authorities. Read More

Trump DoJ obtained 2017 phone records of 3 Washington Post reporters

January 1, 2020
The U.S. Department of Justice on May 3, 2021, notified Washington Post reporters Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller, and former Post reporter Adam Entous, that it had obtained their phone records from 2017 over reporting on the Trump administration's communications with Russia during the 2016 election, the Post reported.The Justice Department wrote in three separate letters that they obtained the reporters' phone records from April 15, 2017 to July 31, 2017, the Post reported. The article said the letters don’t …

Justice Department attempted to seize email records of 3 Washington Post reporters

December 22, 2020
The Department of Justice under then-President Donald Trump attempted to acquire email records of three Washington Post reporters as part of a leak investigation on Dec. 22, 2020.The day before William Barr stepped down as attorney general, he filed an application for a court order to compel Proofpoint, a cybersecurity firm, to turn over records belonging to Post reporters Ellen Nakashima, Greg Miller and Adam Entous, who now works at The New Yorker. The request was part of an attempt …

Trump Justice Department secretly obtained CNN Pentagon reporter’s email, phone records

January 1, 2020
The U.S. Department of Justice informed CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr on May 13, 2021, that under the Trump administration, the agency secretly obtained her work and personal phone and email records, CNN reported.According to CNN, prosecutors obtained Starr’s records from June 1 to July 31, 2017, including records from her phone extension at the Pentagon, the CNN Pentagon booth phone, Starr’s home and work numbers, and both her work and personal email accounts.The phone information obtained included “toll records” …

Dakota Pipeline operator subpoenas Unicorn Riot over coverage of demonstrations

March 17, 2021
Unicorn Riot and its reporter Niko Georgiades were subpoenaed on March 17, 2021, by Energy Transfer LP, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, for all documents and communications relating to the nonprofit media organization’s coverage of the pipeline project.The subpoenas are part of the pipeline company’s legal effort against several environmental groups, including Greenpeace, and activists that protested against the pipeline in 2016 and 2017, according to The Intercept and other outlets.Energy Transfer demanded all documents including video and …
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